Steve Jones Les Paul Custom

It’s hard to fathom that someone can pick up a guitar for the first time, and just a few months later become the preeminent voice of musical revolution. But that’s exactly what happened to Steve Jones, who as the Sex Pistols’ lead guitarist helped define both the sound and style of punk rock.

With just one album, 1977’s Never Mind The Bullocks Here’s The Sex Pistols, Jones revitalized rock guitar – shaking it back to its brutal three-chord roots. This thrilling, groundbreaking album catapulted the band’s four members into a chaotic ride that lasted all of one tumultuous year. Throughout it all, a white 1974 Les Paul Custom was defiantly slung over Jones’ shoulder as he delivered the raunchiest – and surprisingly melodic – guitar playing the first wave of English punk ever produced.

Over the years, this Les Paul Custom with pin-up girl stickers has become one of rock and roll’s most iconic symbols, with a history as poignant as it is anecdotal. The Steve Jones Les Paul Custom is a fitting tribute to one of rock’s most unsung and unlikely heroes and the guitar he used to make history.

Body and Neck

This model has been painstakingly researched and studied to match Jones’ original instrument in every detail, beginning with the Les Paul Custom’s traditional carved maple top and one-piece mahogany body with multi-ply white and black binding around the top and back. Its white finish has been aged to match the patina of Jones’ original instrument. The traditional one-piece mahogany neck consists of a 22-fret ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlays, single-ply white binding along the fingerboard and a neck profile similar to the Les Paul Customs of the 1970s.

Hardware

All of the hardware, including the ABR-1 bridge and stopbar and tailpiece, is gold and has been lightly aged to give the guitar its truly authentic look. The pickups are two of Gibson’s best humbuckers for playing the type of intense rock and roll made famous by Jones and the Sex Pistols – Gibson’s 496R humbucker in the neck position delivers incredible sustain and cutting power with its ceramic magnet, adding more highs with increased definition and no muddiness at all, while the 498T in the bridge position swaps the Alnico II magnet to an Alnico V, thus making it slightly hotter with emphasis on mid-ranges and highs. The pole pieces on the 498T are also aligned a little further apart to accommodate the spacing of the strings at the bridge, which is different than the spacing of the strings at the neck. The Steve Jones model comes with the standard Gibson Custom case and certificate of authenticity.